"David Ray Griffin, writing specifically for members of Congress and the media, has presented the often incredible but true details of 25 major contradictions in the Bush administration's accounts of 9/11. This book, based on careful research but written in a fast-moving, readable style, blows apart the notion that The 9/11 Commission Report presents an accurate account of what happened on September 11. It makes crystal clear the need for a new investigation."-- Bill Christison, former senior CIA official

In 9/11 Contradictions, David Ray Griffin shows that the official story about 9/11 is riddled with internal contradictions. For example, the 9/11 Commission's claim that Vice President Cheney did not enter the Presidential Emergency Operations Center until almost 10 AM was contradicted by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, who testified that when he arrived at 9:20, Cheney was already there; the White House's early claim that President Bush left the Florida classroom immediately after being informed by Andy Card about the second attack on the World Trade Center was later contradicted by a video of the session, which showed that the president remained for about 10 minutes; Rudy Giuliani's recent claim that he did not know the Twin Towers were going to collapse contradicts a statement he made to ABC's Peter Jennings on 9/11; Ted Olson's claim that he received two phone calls from his wife, Barbara Olson, who was on Flight 77 has been contradicted by the FBI report on phone calls from the airliners; the claim that several passengers on United Flight 93, such as Tom Burnett, used their cell phones to report its hijacking has been contradicted by that same FBI report; the claim that there is no doubt about Osama bin Ladin's responsibility for the 9/11 attacks has also been contradicted by the FBI, which says it has no hard evidence of his responsibility; the claim that information connecting the attacks to al-Qaeda was found in Mohamed Atta's luggage contradicts the story told by the FBI immediately after the attacks; and the claim that the Pentagon had no way of knowing that an attack was coming has been contradicted by proof that an E-4B was flying over Washington at the time.

Two contradictory statements cannot both be true. These contradictions show, therefore, that individuals and agencies articulating the official story of 9/11 have made many false statements. Congress and the press clearly should ask which of the contradictory statements are false and why they were made.

This book is purely factual, simply laying out the fact that these internal contradictions exist. As such, the book contains no theory. Politicians and journalists who deal with the issues raised herein, therefore, will not be giving credence to some "conspiracy theory" about 9/11. They will simply be carrying out their duty to ask why the official story about 9/11, arguably the most fateful event of our time, is riddled with so many contradictions.

David Ray Griffin is emeritus professor of philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University. He has published over 30 books, including Physics and the Ultimate Significance of Time, The Reenchantment of Science, Postmodern Politics for a Planet in Crisis, Jewish Theology and Process Thought, Religion and Scientific Naturalism, The New Pearl Harbor, and Whitehead's Radically Different Postmodern Philosophy

Olive Branch Press

Media Reviews

"[I]t succeeds as a searing and close reading of the events of September 11."--Publishers Weekly

"No matter how you feel about who is responsible for the 9/11 attack, at least we need a thorough independent, unbiased investigation. In this book, Griffin provides 25 useful questions--contradictions worthy of honest answers."-- Jim Hightower, author of Swim against the Current and editor of The Hightower Lowdown

"When the smoke finally cleared from the pile of rubble on September 11, 2001, we were left with a host of burning questions. The 9/11 Commission did not provide the answers, despite their extensive mandate. 9/11 Contradictions is a work that needed to be written. With characteristic clarity and focus, David Ray Griffin masterfully lays out the most critical of these questions. Now the challenge is to finally get real answers."-- Lorie Van Auken, widow of Kenneth Van Auken, killed at WTC 1 on 9/11/01, and member of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission

"So who cares that the 9/11 Commission chose to believe that Dick Cheney did not enter the White House bunker until 'shortly before 10:00, perhaps at 9:58,' twenty minutes after the strike on the Pentagon? Surely the vice president would not fib, so the Commission threw out the testimony of several eyewitnesses, including Norman Mineta, the transportation secretary. Mineta must have been making it all up when he testified that he joined Cheney in the bunker at about 9:20 and heard Cheney reaffirm an apparent stand-down order just before the Pentagon was struck. Such conflicting testimony is typical of the many serious '9/11 Contradictions' documented in David Ray Griffin's highly readable book. We need a truly independent investigation to put Cheney and Mineta under oath, along with the still unidentified 'young man' who, Mineta reported, kept coming into the bunker and, after telling Cheney 'the plane is ten miles out,' asked him whether 'the orders still stand'--about 12 minutes before 125 people in the Pentagon were killed. What were those orders?"-- Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and presidential briefer

"David Ray Griffin is America's bulldog on 9/11. His demand that the amazing contradictions in the story be explained resonates with millions of people."-- Paul Craig Roberts, former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and assistant secretary of the US Treasury during the Reagan administration

"Because the 9/11 attacks became the excuse for myriad disastrous changes in U.S. foreign and domestic policy, unraveling the true history of those events is the paramount exigency of our times. By virtue of pointing out an astonishing number of irreconcilable contradictions in the official story of 9/11, David Ray Griffin's 9/11 Contradictions is a must read, not only for the Congress and the press, but also for any American concerned about the truth, because those contradictions suggest that we have not yet been told the truth about 9/11."-- David L. Griscom, research physicist, Fellow of the American Physical Society, retired from the Naval Research Laboratory

"This book describes in very straightforward and non-technical terms some major inconsistencies in the government's official story about the events on September 11, 2001. It points out many attempts in the 9/11 Commission's report to cover up evidence . . . . As an engineer, I am especially troubled by the cover-up of evidence relevant to the collapse of the three major World Trade Center buildings. I hope that Congress and the public will heed this call for a full and impartial investigation to determine what really did happen on that fateful day."-- Jack Keller, Emeritus Professor of Engineering at Utah State University and member of the National Academy of Engineering

"The Congress and the press may not pay attention, but this scholarly yet accessible analysis is must reading for Americans concerned about good government and effective democracy. Every reader will reach the only logical conclusion: 9/11 truth is not yet known."-- Joel S. Hirschhorn, former official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and author of Delusional Democracy: Fixing the Republic without Overthrowing the Government

"According to St. Timothy, ‘God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.' In 9/11 Contradictions, David Ray Griffin, demonstrating once again what a fearless spirit and powerful mind can do, shows the official account of 9/11 to be so riddled with contradictions as to be essentially worthless."-- Catherine Austin Fitts, assistant secretary of housing in the George H. W. Bush administration

Reader Reviews"9/11 Contradictions by David Ray Griffin is the fifth of his books to examine the official account of the events of September 11, 2001. This brilliant and highly readable book takes a new yet simple approach to the truth about 9/11. It focuses entirely on contradictory statements made by members of the Bush administration, government departments and agencies, and official bodies such as the 9/11 Commission. All the statements thatGriffin examines are official claims in direct conflict with other official claims. How could this be? Why would the government keep changing "the official story"? The public, of course, is expected to take all the statements as incontrovertibly true, yet they directly conflict with one another.

And why, if the government pronouncements are contradictory, haven't members of Congress and the mainstream media launched investigations to determine which are true and which are false, and to ask why are obvious falsehoods about the events of 9/11 being promulgated by the government? I say 'obvious falsehoods' because, as Griffin explains in the Preface, 'If [Transportation Secretary Norman] Mineta said 'P,' that is a fact. If the 9/11 Commission said 'not P,' that is a fact. And it is a fact that 'P' and 'not P' cannot both be true' (p. viii). The subtitle, 'An Open Letter to Congress and the Press,' indicates Griffin's hope that the juxtaposition of the contradictory claims the book provides will stimulate such investigations. But the book is really intended for the public at large, and its clear focus makes it the easiest to read of all Griffin's books on 9/11. Because of its relative simplicity it is a perfect introduction to the subject.

Drawing on government publications, media reports, testimony from the 9/11 Commission hearings, oral histories from the Fire Department of New York, and other official sources, Griffin documents masterfully 25 of the most serious contradictions, divided into five parts:

'Part I. Questions about Bush Administration and Pentagon Leaders,' reveals the contradictory claims about the activities of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Richard Myers, Donald Rumsfeld and Ted Olson. In this part Griffin shows that Bush's long stay at the Florida school was initially confirmed and later denied by the White House, that various government spokespersons and the 9/11 Commission could not agree on where Cheney, Myers and Rumsfeld were at key times that morning, and that DOJ Solicitor General Ted Olson's claims to have received phone calls from his wife on Flight 77 were directly contradicted by the DOJ's FBI. 'Part II. Questions about the US Military,' explores the many contradictions within government claims about when the military was alerted to the emergencies on the flights, whether the military could have shot down Flight 93, and whether it had envisioned 9/11-type attacks prior to that day.

'Part III. Questions about Osama bin Laden & the Hijackers,' examines the contradictions in official claims about the religious devotion of the alleged hijackers, where the luggage with the Arabic-language flight manuals, attributed to Mohamed Atta, was found, whether cell phone calls from the flights provided evidence of hijackers, and the existence of hard evidence for Osama bin Laden's responsibility.

'Part IV. Questions about the Pentagon,' spotlights contradictions in the official account of Hani Hanjour's flying skills, what caused the large hole in the interior C Ring wall of the building, and whether a sophisticated US military reconnaissance plane was overhead during the attack.

'Part V. Questions about the World Trade Center,' exposes the contradictions in Rudy Giuliani's account of his foreknowledge of the catastrophic collapse of the Twin Towers, in the official claims about explosions in the towers and WTC 7 before they disintegrated, and in official statements concerning the presence of molten steel in the subbasements after the buildings came down.

When examined under Griffin's microscope, it becomes clear that the 'official story' has kept changing over time, just like the stories criminals tell as they are interrogated. As holes in the government's explanations of the incomprehensible events opened up under questioning, to some degree from the press but primarily from the 9/11 truth movement, they were plugged by new claims. And virtually all of the new claims have been accepted by the press and Congress without asking how they could be true in light of the earlier, contradictory claims. You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to see that when the story keeps changing, doubt is cast on all of its versions. Any police investigator knows this, as should investigative journalists and elected representatives.

Of course, if Congress and the press won't do their jobs, it's up to the rest of us. With this authoritative dissection of the conflicting statements of the principal suspects, Griffin has done much of the pre-trial legwork already. The American public should not allow his selfless devotion to truth and justice to be squandered by inaction. This may be one of those things that representatives just cannot do for us." --Tod Fletcher